Animation of Flip-Up Undercarriage Step Design

I designed this weldment and assembly, to be added later to a fender after a few holes are drilled via help of a 1:1 template printed on a plotter. As I was making sure the step would clear the rear of the fender when flipped up (for Transport Mode), I decided to make a quick animation of it.

Data Communication via Visualization

This can be a fast way to communicate form and function, for a design review, and even be reused for Assembly (you know how much I like creating data once, then reusing it various places and for various purposes). I could save this to the product data management vault and hyperlink to it in the assembly print. Then if an assembler opens the PDF of the print, they can click and watch a 30 second clip and understand how their hardware kit fits together. Yes, the Assembly print is supposed to demonstrate this too, but sometimes animation provides perspective or communication language that speeds up the learning process.

It Doesn’t Take Too Long

It’s not the best animation, and much more than necessary to show form, function & Assembly, but it took mere minutes of setting a few keyframes in SolidWorks’ Motion Study tab, then exporting as Windows movie file. So enjoy the animated antics of Fender Fold-up Step and its pal: Hardware.